Snow
by Arai Haruka
Summary: Secret Santa for cionbird. Hal did not like the cold. Dave takes him out for a walk in the snow, anyway. Oneshot, Snake/Otacon


An oneshot done for the Secret Santa Simulation (S3) 2009. I think I did rather well with this, despite the fact that Snake/Otacon isn't one the pairings I'm best at writing.

**Title:** Snow  
**Pairing:** Snake/Otacon  
**Rating:** G  
**Summary:** Hal did not like the cold. Dave takes him out for a walk in the snow, anyway.  
**Warnings:** None that I can think of. Not even silly ones.

The snow was, at the moment, falling very gently. Snow storms around here always started like that. It would eventually start snowing faster and faster until there was enough snow to prevent people from going to work because of poor road conditions. Sure, it usually melted soon enough, but, for Doctor Hal "Otacon" Emmerich, it always seemed that "soon enough" meant a day or two before the next storm.

Otacon did not like the cold. Not in the least. If it was frosty enough outside that you could see your own breath, you could bet that he would be inside next to the fireplace, with a mug of hot cocoa in his hands and a thick blanket. If he was ever forced outside, he would be so bundled up that he himself would admit that he looked rather silly. No matter what he did, he would always end up complaining about the chills sooner or later because, darn it, coats and hats and scarves and mittens would never be enough to keep out the nipping cold.

It also seemed to Hal that his luck with weather was about as lucky as his luck with women. Wherever he went for his job, it was going to be cold. When he worked for ArmsTech, it became its worst when he went to Shadow Moses Island in order to build REX. Of course, before that, he had ended up mostly working across parts of Rocky Mountains. Even now, when he was the head of his own small organization, they had ended up hiding out in a small Coloradoan city instead of going to somewhere warm like Florida or Arizona. It seemed as if he was doomed to be forced to stay in the bitter chill forever.

In contrast, Otacon's best friend and partner in more ways than one had chosen to retire to Alaska and become a dog musher for a reason. The man absolutely adored living in frozen wastelands. He was the sole reason Otacon had decided to have them hide in a place that was absolutely frigid during the winter. Hal did it because of him. Then again, he also figured that he could stay inside because of all of the work he would need to do in order to keep their location a secret, and his partner could do whatever he wanted outside.

"Otacon…"

"Huh? What is it, Snake?" Hal asked, looking up from his computer. Snake was standing right next to him. He hadn't even noticed.

"Don't you think you've been working a little bit too much?" he asked with mild concern for his darling geek.

Otacon paused as if to think about it. He had been on the computer all day, alternating between working on a program for VR, testing it out, and surfing the internet to keep himself from getting too bored with his work. He had actually finished the program a while ago and was currently abusing TV Tropes' random button.

"No, not at all," Hal replied, which was actually the honest truth.

"Otacon, you've been sitting at that computer all day," Snake pointed out.

"That doesn't necessarily make my statement any less true," Otacon said.

Snake shock his head before continuing, "Yes, but leads to some unfortunate implications. Anyway, I'm going to head out for a walk. Do you want to come with, or do you still have more 'work' to do?"

"…" Hal was fully prepared to go back to fooling around until he spotted what page he had left on. 'Unfortunate Implications.' "Let me grab my coat," he said with a soft sigh.

"All right," Dave replied with a nod and walked to their doorway, grabbing his own jacket on the way. Putting it on, he waited for his partner. About five minutes later, Otacon walked over wearing not only his coat but a scarf, mittens, and hat with a fluffy little pom-pom on top.

Snake smirked, "Otacon, when you told me you were going to get your coat, I didn't think you were dressing up for Alaskan weather."

"I'm not a big fan of the cold, Snake," Otacon admitted.

"Really? You didn't seem to have a problem with it during Shadow Moses," Snake said, honestly surprised.

"Well, there were some many other things going on at the time, I wasn't really focused on complaining," Hal replied.

"I see…" Snake stated, deciding not to press the subject, "So, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah," said Otacon, opening the door. Immediately, cool air stated biting into Hal's skin. Snake was unfazed.

The duo left and started walking. The snow had already started coming down harder. Otacon shivered. While the slow walk and being right next to Snake were keeping him as warm as they could, it wasn't quite enough. They continued on until a nearby park stuck out to Hal.

"Hey, Snake."

"Hmm?" Snake said, drifting out of whatever thoughts he had been thinking at the moment.

"I'm getting a bit bored with this scenery. How about we change it up a bit?" Otacon asked, motioned at the park.

"Sure, all right…" he replied before falling right back into those thoughts that Hal had interrupted.

They strolled through the frosted-over park, silent except for the crunching of snow. There was no one there except for them, as others would probably be huddled up at home, like Hal wished he was. Still, there was evidence that others had been there before them, in the form of footprints steadily filling with the new snow. The park itself seemed mostly untouched, though. Bare deciduous trees and evergreens alike were covered in snow, while the playground appeared abandoned save for some small footprints of a truly dedicated child. Even the lights and benches had been covered in white. It was actually rather beautiful.

Snake was one who broke the silence first, "Otacon… You didn't need to come with me, you know."

"Hmm? What are you talking about, Snake?" Hal asked.

"If you didn't want to come along, I could have gone alone. I would have understood," Snake said guiltily.

"Snake, while it's true that I don't like the cold," Otacon stated, "I'm not about to let anyone be cold _and_ alone when I could prevent it. Least of all you."

"Heh…" Snake gave Hal small smile before taking out a cigarette and lighting it. After exhaling a thin stream of smoke, he looked back at Hal, "Thanks, Otacon."

"No problem," Otacon said with a small smile of his own.

An easy silence rested between them. After walking for a bit longer, Snake decided to clear off a bench and sat down. Otacon sat down next to him and started nuzzling up to him. There they sat, a smoking soldier and his otaku partner cuddling on a park bench in the snow.

"This…" Otacon said quietly, "This is nice, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Snake replied, "Yeah, it is."

The snow continued to fall.


End file.
